1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to coin sorters of the type which use a rotatable disc having a resilient surface operating with an adjacent stationary guide plate and, more particularly, to such sorters which have a counter for counting the number of coins sorted and a brake for stopping the disc when the counter indicates that a preselected number of coins have been sorted.
2. Summary of the Invention
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a coin sorter of the type described above which has an improved drive and brake system for stopping the rotatable disc quickly and reliably over a large number of operating cycles.
It is another important object of this invention to provide such a coin sorter having a drive and brake system which is relatively inexpensive to install and maintain.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a coin sorter having a drive and brake system which permits the use of a relatively small brake mechanism.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
In accordance with the present invention, the foregoing objectives are realized by providing a coin sorter having a rotatable disc with a resilient surface and a stationary guide plate positioned adjacent to the resilient surface for guiding coins on the resilient surface as the disc is rotated; counting means for counting coins of at least one denomination as the coins are processed by the sorter; an electric motor having an output shaft for driving the rotatable disc; a speed-reducing gear train connected between the output shaft of the electric motor and the rotatable disc; and first braking means responsive to the counting means for stopping the rotatable disc when a preselected number of coins have been counted, the braking means being connected to the output shaft of the motor, and, in an alternative embodiment, a second braking means is coupled to the rotatable disc.
The first braking means preferably comprises an armature fixed to the output shaft cf said motor and including a disc forming a flat surface to which braking pressure can be applied, and an electromagnetic actuator for applying braking pressure to the flat surface of said disc when said actuator is supplied with electrical power. The second braking means is preferably a tension brake including an electromagnetic coil secured to the coin sorter and a brake disc secured to the rotatable disc. According to a preferred embodiment, the first and second feature of braking means are operated in synchronism during the braking sequence in such a manner that (i) both the braking means are activated simultaneously with a minimal activation delay and, (ii) the stopping times corresponding to both the braking means are substantially identical. The effect of the synchronized braking action is to minimize damaging torque being applied to the speed-reducing gear train and to reduce the possibility of gear train wind-up and the associated errors in coin counting.